Pashupati Advani on his top bet among new age stocks, M&M buying RBL stake and more

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

Pashupati Advani, Founder, Global Foray, says Paytm has always been his top bet within the new age stocks. “But I was in and out and then it jumped above 800. Now, it is in the high 700s.

So, I am looking at entering again. But, that is the one of the winners because it seems to have ticked all the boxes.”What do you make of the M&M investment in RBL Bank? Does it spook you about the capital allocation policy at Mahindra Group?This is like where there is smoke there is always fire. I think they are planning something.

I am guessing that in the long term, they feel there will be restrictions on NBFCs which may not be banks and so they want to kind of get cosy with one of them. This is a bank with no big promoter holding and this is an opportunity for them to step up at some point. It may be three, five years or maybe the next cycle, but at least they have that opportunity there.

3-3.55% is not going to give them a board seat. So I do not know what that means in terms of putting money in and Rs 400 crore is a lot of learning. So those are the two questions.

It is a little baffling but it is a bank that is out there probably up for grabs in the long term.Just take a long-term view because there has been a big correction in terms of how SBI’s profitability has moved. Do you think this one-quarter blip is something that the Street might be worried about?We have to fully agree. It is a long-term view with SBI.

I do not think anyone really understands the SBI balance sheet properly because they have got so much stuff and it is really very difficult to analyze. I think you are taking it as India's big bank and it is too large to fail. They are just going to keep growing and they have access to rural deposits.